What is your "Real" job?

When traveling the show circuit peddling my wares from my little slice of mobile workshop, I meet a lot of interesting people. They range from a wide variety of various income levels, educational backgrounds, ethnicity, ages, and so on. From my booth I watch them with curiosity as they shuffle by in the ever changing stream of faces flowing through the event. They wander in and out. They pick things up and marvel at them, and a few even engage in conversation with me. Now this is what interested me. I get a lot of the same questions such as how long does it take to make something, or do I make all this stuff. Some folks ask if I have a website, but the question that always puzzles me is "So what's your real job?". In my opinion it is my "job" to entertain you. My work entertains you. Now it won't pedal around on a unicycle and juggle colored balls, but when you look at it there is something good or bad about it that entertains your mind. So in effect I am lumped in with the entertainment group of musicians, actors, comedians, writers, film makers, ect. I like being a part of this group, I happen to love film, music, books, and theater. It is some of the few things that can spice up some of the blandness of modern day living. So my "real job" is to save the general public from the madness of the mundane, one metal sculpture at a time. Next time I get the what is your real job question, my response will be.

"Oh I am an abnormality specialist."

Vessels and Jewels

If you reside up in the New Hampshire realm, here is an interesting little haven of treasures. Vessels and Jewels is run by a fantastic couple of art lovers. Stop by and check out their print studio!

Vessels & Jewels is located on Main Street in the center of New London, New Hampshire in a in a 1200 square foot retail space neighboring Ellie's Cafe and Deli and The Bank's Gallery.

VonChandler puts the Zombie in Christmas

 

 I had a little spare time last night and I spent it pondering on the upcoming holiday season. A rerun of The Walking Dead came on the shop's little tube T.V. that I have precariously wedged up on a shelf in the far corner. And I thought to myself "I wonder if Zombies celebrate the holidays, perhaps they get together and share a human liver?". Anyway I figured they needed some Christmas representation.

Uni-guinea pig concept work

What could be more groundbreaking than the discovery of a real life Unicorn? The answer is to immediately take the next step in evolution and create the ultimate life form.

Behold the Uni-guinea pig!!!! Ok it may a bit far fetched and perhaps slightly insane, but somewhere out there a person longs to have this little guy carved out of steel and sitting on their desk. With the first draft that my talented brother Tallon has conjured up. It is only a matter of time before all shall tremble before it's might.

The sound of buzzing fills the air around my workshop, repeatedly zooming in close, then disappearing into the faint distance. I glance up from studying the pages of drawings scattered across my work bench, each of them littered with tiny black specs of welding burns. I see one of my giant fly traps, its leafy traps springing back in forth in the cool breeze just outside the cracked shop window. I know this sound but it is strangely amplified, like a helicopter swinging in low over my property. Flinging down my pen I step out the shop's roll up door on the east side of the building to try and get a visual on the sound. As my eyes adjust to the morning rays of light pouring over me, I lock eyes on the sound's origin.

And I thought our crows were massive!!

Boxes and tape and shipping oh my

You know there is a huge marketplace out there on the internet. If you have a product that is viable people will buy it. Of course its not as simple as taking a snapshot of something, throwing it on the web, and waiting to snap up the sales orders like a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos. No its quite a bit more complex than all that. I have been tackling the ins and outs of the online store process for years. My most recent battle is shipping. Lets say that I sell 1 flower stake for $15.00 plus $7.00 shipping. Now domestic United Postal Service is about $6.00 for base shipping. So I'm a dollar ahead of the game, however I have to box it up. Well a box is about .70 so I'm only up .30 cents. But wait I also have to cover tape, printing of shipping labels, internal packing material, and gas to drive to the post office. All in all I am spending about $10.00 in shipping for a $15.00 item that I am only charging $7.00 for shipping on. Maybe time to raise some rates.

Crating the big stuff

Well this isn't really a new sculpture being made, however crating these larger pieces for shipping is defiantly a project. This particular one was purchased by Josh Cote Fine Sculpture in Oregon. It took a lot longer to box up than I originally thought and when I tried to drop it at UPS they told me it was over sized. So with a little more effort and a skill saw, I cut it down to size and shipped it out.

Let me tell you that I am not a carpenter nor do I wish to pretend so. I don't like sawdust in my hair and the sound of the circular saw, oh its like sweet, sweet music!